Dexter Holland, left, and Noodles of Orange County band the Offspring will headline three nights at the at the Observatory in Santa Ana – Monday, Oct. 30, Tuesday, Oct. 31 and Thursday, Nov. 2 – to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its fourth album, “Ixnay on the Hombre.” (Photo by Steven Georges, contributing photographer)

Back in 1997, Orange County rock band the Offspring dropped its fourth album, “Ixnay on the Hombre.” It was the follow-up to the quartet’s mainstream breakthrough record, “Smash,” which came out in 1994 on indie punk label Epitaph Records. It shot the band to super stardom with cuts like “Come Out and Play,” “Self Esteem” and “Gotta Get Away.”

With “Ixnay,” the band made the big jump from indie label to major label status by signing to Columbia Records, a move that, back then, stirred up a lot of controversy. Now, however, vocalist Dexter Holland said “It was the right move.”

“‘Smash’ wasn’t our first record, but it felt like our first record as far as everyone else in the world knew, so everyone was kind of just preparing for the ‘sophomore slump,'” he recalled during a recent phone interview of heading in to record “Ixnay on the Hombre” in the mid-’90s.

“That is such a weird curse that’s put on you before the record is even done, so of course that was on our minds. We had gotten so much exposure with ‘Smash’ that it felt wrong to write ‘Smash Part Two.” We wanted to expand and do different songs and I’m really proud of the record.”

The band will celebrate the 20th anniversary of “Ixnay on the Hombre” by playing the record in its entirety during a trio of Halloween shows at the Observatory in Santa Ana on Monday, Oct. 30 with Well Hung Heart; Tuesday, Oct. 31 with Spooky and Thursday, Nov. 2 with The Crowd. The band is encouraging fans to dress up in Halloween costumes for all three of the shows.

Dexter Holland, left, and Noodles of Orange County band the Offspring will headline three nights at the at the Observatory in Santa Ana – Monday, Oct. 30, Tuesday, Oct. 31 and Thursday, Nov. 2 – to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its fourth album, “Ixnay on the Hombre.” (Photo by Sam Jones)

Though “Ixnay on the Hombre” wasn’t as big as “Smash” or even “Americana,” the album the band released just a year later, Holland said it allowed the band to expand its sound and experiment, specifically with a song like “Gone Away.”

“We didn’t want to end up pigeon holed into one sound,” He said. “I’m glad we kind of widened what we could do with the ‘Ixnay’ record, but it definitely wasn’t as successful as ‘Smash’ or ‘Americana,’ so maybe it was our sophomore slump. I prefer to think of it as our ‘Pinkerton.’ It’s more of a fan record, I guess.”

Offspring has celebrated several of its albums anniversaries at this point, including “Ignition” and, of course, “Smash” with a few select market shows. Holland said the band enjoys these gigs since they get to cram into more intimate settings and feel the heat and sweat of the crowd.

“These shows, they really feel special,” he said. “It’s nice to mix it up and play different types of shows and I guess, yeah, it makes us go back and listen to these songs because we’re relearning the record and we can go ‘Oh yeah, those were pretty good.’ It reminds me that I’m proud of the work we’ve done.”

The band has been rehearsing the songs off of “Ixnay on the Hombre” in its Orange County studio this week, of course blasting through hits it has kept in its sets like “Gone Away” and “All I Want,” but dusting off a few others.

“I’ve had fun playing songs like ‘I Choose,’ which we haven’t played for a while and I have fun with ‘Don’t Pick It Up,’ too,” Holland said.

Curiously, more recently, the band has been getting a lot of requests for the song “Mota” off of the album.

“People don’t just scream it out, they have it on signs that just have one word ‘Mota’,” he said with a laugh. “I don’t know what that’s about but I think it has struck a chord among certain weed-smoking fans I guess.”

That’s another trend the band has noticed. Instead of getting wild and hopping up and down for certain tracks, Holland said before certain key fan-favorites, the band is now noticing pot smoke wafting on stage.

“It’s amazing the amount of marijuana smoke that’s coming up on stage now,” he said. “I’m not a pot smoker, but whatever floats your boat. It’s just an observation, but wow, the pot has certainly increased at shows so maybe that’s why there’s all of the ‘Mota’ signs.”

Since this trio of gigs will run through Halloween, Holland said he’s looking forward to the creative costumes that the fans show up in. The band hasn’t quite decided on its outfits yet – maybe they’ll be a mariachi band? They haven’t confirmed.

They’re toying with the idea of a costume parade on stage for those best dressed up as well as a few other surprises. Since one of the shows actually falls on Halloween, Holland said the guys will be taking their younger kids trick-or-treating before the show. They’re also no stranger to horror films, as the Offspring was the featured high school auditorium band in the 1999 horror-comedy, “Idle Hands.” During its performance, Holland meets his demise via an evil severed hand.

“That was fun,” he said. “We love Halloween.”

Although playing the anniversary shows have been a blast, something Holland said he understands as a fan since he just recently saw U2’s “The Joshua Tree” tour when it was in town, he confirmed that the Offspring is working on some new music. It would have happened sooner, however Holland said he was bogged down with homework, finishing up his thesis on HIV research to complete his Ph.D. in molecular biology, which he received from the University of Southern California earlier this year.

“No one calls me doctor,” he said with a laugh. “I was tied up with all of that for a while but we’re back in the studio. I think I want to do like an EP. It’s kind of what people are doing these days and it makes for less time in between stuff. It has been five years for us so we have a few songs together and I’m hoping to get something out by early next year.”

The Offspring

When: 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 30; Tuesday, Oct. 31 and Thursday, Nov. 2

Where: The Observatory, 3503 S. Harbor Blvd., Santa Ana

Tickets: Monday, Oct. 30 and Tuesday, Oct. 31 are sold out, but there are tickets starting at $45 for Thursday, Nov. 2 at ObservatoryOC.com.

Kelli Skye Fadroski lives for entertainment. She’s worked at The Orange County Register since 2006 and has covered all things music, stand-up comedy, horror and more. When she’s not out reviewing a concert or interviewing some random famous person, she’s catching up on episodes of “The Walking Dead,” somewhere sampling craft beer, enjoying Taco Tuesday or yelling at the contestants through the TV on “Celebrity Name Game” for not knowing basic pop culture trivia. She’s also a diehard Detroit Lions fan.

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